I wonder how many other nature-loving pagans have, like me, adopted the Sun and Moon as their personal deities. This divine relationship is sincere, effortless and almost parental-- containing the warm respect, casual cadence and nurturing essence of a bond shared between parent and child.
Daily I look skyward, finding comfort in and seeking guidance from their reliable presence. My Lady Mother calms my often impatient spirit. She blesses and protects my home, my family as she blankets the nighttime lands with her ever-shifting light.
But since the focus of this blog party is the god and not goddess, I nod to her respectfully and move to think upon my Lord, the Sun. I greet him as I rise from bed each morning, drawing in his brilliant energy and asking that he watch over my day as he journeys across the sprawling skies.
Throughout the ages there have been a great many cultures and groups who worshiped the sun as central deity and I’m quite convinced that early Christians also adopted this solar devotion, exchanging the actual planetary body for a relevant human form, a “son” named Jesus Christ.
I think this is why there are so many beliefs surrounding The Savior that coincide with ancient pagan practices linked to the Sun--Though the man Jesus Christ was known to have been born sometime in the spring with the animals of herd, it is celebrated in December near the Winter Solstice, a holiday in the pagan Wheel of the Year when we see the rebirth of the Sun god after his death at Samhain. I don’t believe this to be unintentional and at the same time, I’m not offended or bitter-- I take it to be the normal resulting merge of ideas and celebrations as the segregated peoples of the world began to mingle. I just wish more Christians would come to accept this as well. But, I suppose that’s a topic for an entirely different post.
While I know the Sun and Moon are not themselves great gods, they are my constant connection to a source of ethereal divinity buried within us all.
5 comments:
The celebration of Christ's birthday circa the birth of the Sun God is anything but accidental. As it happened with many other holidays, Christianity needed something (a big event) to keep those newly converted "happy" and to take some of the shine away from the Pagan celebrations. This might be the reason why Christianity as a whole couldn't couldn't agree on what day to celebrate Christ's birthday, for before the 12th century (give or take a century or two) not all Christians celebrated Christ's birthday near the our witchy Winter Solstice. I read somewhere (I think a was an article from AAR, but I can't remember the title) that Christ's birthday was first celebrated somewhere between spring and fall.
Very interesting post; thanks for sharing.
Unfortunately the Father Sun has not shown his face here in a while, even mother moon is hidden by the shifty clouds. But from what I hear, they should be making an appearance next week, which makes me (and my ostara flowers) very happy :)
A very interesting take on deity, I love it.
Great post! does anyone else drift towards the Egyptian pantheon when thinking about sun Gods?
@Cambria Selene - Let's hope they are together doing something interesting and fun :-)
@Emi - What an interesting comment. It reminds me that regardless of what god anyone mentions, our hearts will "drift towards" the one we identify with.
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